Grain grader and cleaner



' June 5, 1923. 1,457,734

, A. E. FRQMMEL @RAIN GRADER .AND CLEANER Filed Aug. 19". 1921 2sheets-sheet 1 Az. v7 ,fg-,-

/6 /7' gwvenkoz E17/Zammel A. E. FROMMEL GRAIN' GRADER AND CLEANER June5, A1923. i 1,457,734

Filed Aug. 19. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v To all avho'mz't'mdg/ camera:

Patented June 5, 1923.

UNITED STATES.

l 1,457,734 PATE Nr l`o;rfbinfo .ALBEErE EEOMMEL, 0EGROTON'SOUTH'DAKOTA.

i GRAIN 'GEADER AND CLEANER..

'Applicatinn vmed August 19, 1921. serial No. 493,516. Y

'Be it lkn'own .that I, ALBERT EIFROMMEL, a'vcitizen :of 'the UnitedStates, residing 'at Groton, inthe `county yof Brown and State 4'ofSouth Dakota, have invented certain new an'd useful Improvements "inGrain 'Graders and Cleaners;y and -I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exacadefscription ofthe invention, suchaswillenable others'Skilled'in the iart :to :wh'ichfit appertainstomakeanduse'thesame. v

.This invention .relates tounew and useful improvements :.in y'grainvgradersand cleaners 'and has forits primary object the Iprovision ofmeans for forming grain in -a sheet -or curtain form past the :air blastof the device and whichffisacapable of adjustment .tovarythe/amountfoffgrain in the-curtainand is so rconstructed .thatthe:chances of the lgrain 'clogging `@is entirely robviated Anotherl.object of this invention is the provision Aofv an :adj ust'ablecombined dividing wing :iand chute .located ybelow the cur` :tainforming .means toseparate and catch the fdesired grain from `:the chaffIand other foreign matter .and -to direct said grain to a.receptaclef'orthelike.- v

Another object of lthis invention lis the provision of ablast-contr'oladapted to auto- ;matically regulate the air 4to the fan as the Y:latterAdecreases vand increases gin speed to i #keep aipredetermined air blastfrom the v-fan `at all times. f

A further `object of this invention is the .provision ofa graingraderand cleaner of the above stated. character, which will be `simple,durable vand eflicient, Aand which may be manufactured. and 'sold at aVcomparatively low cost.

*With'fthese .and otherobjectsin view as will become more apparent asthe descripftion proceeds, the invention vconsistsV `incervtainnovelfeaturesof construction, combination, and arrangement vofparts .as will be .hereinafter ymore .fully described and claimed.

. .For ..a complete understanding vof my .invention, .reference is to.be had .to the 'followvingfdescription'andaccompanying drawings,

lign Whi'chfz-e- "Figure lfis a side elevation, illustrating a iig-raingrader and cleaner lconstructed in .acffcordan'ce withmyfinventlom fFigure 2jis a verticalsectional view villus- .ttratinLg-.thesamafregare. .e :is .anaal .S'eaiona'i .View inus- -`vibrating 'an automaticvblast control',

Figure 4 `is .detail sectional `Aview illustrating .the curtainformingrh'oppen Figure 51isasectionalview taken right angles vto Figure'-4. aand .illustrating the fard justable front `wall of the'fcurtain.forming hopper,

Figure "6 is a plan view illustrating-'fthe combined grading -wing .andicoll'ectin'g l'ohut'e.

Referring in detail'to the drawings1ithenumeral 'l indicatesv afmainsupporting/frame carrying at its .upper iendfa'grainxreceiving yhopper 2adaptedto' discharge lgrainfinto-fan' .inclined trough 3. 'llhe trough'.i-s.-.-;sup' yported by hangers 4. and is icapablenf fnscillatorymovement,r1rand vhas. :locatedaiatnits upper portion, a screen. 5forlthefipurposerof separating dust, dirt andflikeforeignmatter from thegrain, and said foreigns-. matter escapes yfrom the `trough 3 by waysof-af'idischarge chute .6. The grainpassesl 'Effi-'om @the screen .5 `ontoa scalping sieve""iffof-anyyde-v sired construction and l. which:separates 'from the grain chaif and other foreign matter and the grainfalls through Lthe-fscalping,sientev Vonto the vbottom-"wall- 8 of thetrough and "escapes from the trough by wayaof .antopen- .f

ing 9. The scalping .sieve -7 extends fbeyond Vthe opening Qforv the.purpose of directing chaff .and other foreignmatter ontoian eX- tension1Q vformed =on vthe flower en d Vof .the trough 3 so 'as .todeposit-.said foreign unatterin a pile on' the `ground or into.aisuitable receptacle. i reciprocation vandfreceives .its movement bymeans of a .pitman ll connected -to'an .eccen- .tric ona driveshaft 12.Thefd-rive shaftf12 may bey .rotated .in .any r.suitable .manner .andA.isfequipped with a pulley vover which.,.an

endless belt .13 vtravels yand saidlbelt "is .also .trained-overa.-pulley on .a .fansh'aft .'14, .The fan Ashaft is Isupportedbyflongitudinally tex- '..tendingrbeams l5 and .carries afan llocatedvWithin a fan .casing 17. .The sides'. of'` the Leasing 17 .areIpartially open to perlmitl` the fan to .receivefair and the airis.discharged through apipe .'onthe `casing and' which terminatesinagplane .below and inwardly 'of .thexlow'e'r endoflthe .trough. Acurtain .formin'ghopper Al`9is .carriedfbylthe supporting structure y1below vthe.opening .95.111111 The trough :3 tis mounted. for

above thev .discharge end of. theairlllastlpipe .18 `and .includes ..arear. wallilh'aving. an

also .includes :side walls. .523.' that @reject llbeiupper yinclined.portion:'Qlfanil .a lower venti'- cally disposed Vportion 22.. .hopperi519 1110 18 and slidably supports a front wall 24. The front wall 24has reduced screw threaded portions slidably mounted in slots 25 formedin the side walls and said reduced screw threaded portions have wingnuts 26 turned thereon for the purpose of clamping the front wallagainst movement and also at various distances from the rear wall. Thegrain after passing through the scalping sieve 7 passes through theopening 9 into the curtain forming hopper and falls out of the same insheet form and in front of the discharge end of the air blast 18 so thatsmall and light grain will be blown away from the heavy or desired grainwhich falls directly down past the air blast pipe and is caught in acombined grading wing and collecting chute.

The combined grading wing and collecting chute includes end walls 17 and18 connected by sidewalls 19 and an inclined bottom wall 20. The endwall 18 adjacent its lower edge is provided with a discharge opening orslot 21 to permit grain sliding down the inclined bottom wall to becaught Within a discharge chute 22.

. 17 is adapted to form ay dividing wing and land blown to one side ofthe machine.

located in such a manner that the graded grain will fall onto theinclined bottom 20 while the lighter grain and chaff and other foreignmatter will be directed beyond the saine with the aid of the air blast.The discharge chute 22 may be inclined so that the graded grain mayslide into a suitable receptacle placed thereunder. The combined gradingwing and collecting chute is provided with a frame 23 slidablymounted inguides 24 on the main frame 1 and said frame 23 is reinforced bydiagonally eX- tending truss rods 25. By having the frame 23 slidablymounted on the main frame this permits the location of the wall 17 to bevaried in respect to the curtain of grain falling from the hopper 19 infront of the discharge end of the air blast 18. This device isespecially adapted for cleaning and grading wheat which usually containsother seeds, such as oats, timothy and the like. The wheat is larger andheavier than the other seeds mentioned and when discharged from thecurtain forming hopper, the wheat falls directly downwardly and 1s notinterrupted in its fall by the air blast, but the lighter grain iscaught by the air bwalrst e front wall of the grain forming hopper beingadjustable permits the amount of grain discharged from the curtainforming hopper to be varied.

' The fan casing 17 has hinged to its sides, gates 27 which haveconnected thereto arms 28. The arms 28 have angularly related portions29 and 30. The portions 30 are secured to the gates while the portions29 are adapted to normally contact with the The end wall sides of thefan casing under the influence of a tension spring 31 connected to theJfree ends of the arms 28 by cables or flexible elements 32. As thespeed of the fan increases, the suction of air increases accordinglywhich will draw the gates 27 to a closed position or in a positionclosing the openings in the sides of the casing 17 and cut ofi a part ofthe air supply. As the gates 27 move towards a closing position theytension the spring 31 and as the speed of the fan decreases, the gates27 are moved towards an open position by means of said spring, thus itwill be noted that means has been provided to permit a predeterminedamount of air blast from the fan at al times.

While I have shown and described lthe preferred embodiment of myinvention, it-

will be understood that minor changes'in construction, combination, andarrangement l forming hopper receiving the grain from f said sieve, anauxiliary frame slidably mounted on the main frame to permit adjustmentthereof relative to the curtain forming hopper, and a -combined dividingwing and grain collector carried by the auxiliary frame and adapted tocatch the graded and cleaned grain after passing the air blast.

2. In combination, a grain cleaner and grader including a main framesupporting an air blast anda sieve, a curtain forming hopper receivinggrain from said sieve, an auxiliary frame adjustably mounted on the mainframe, a receptacle carried by the auxiliary frame and having aninclined-bottom, and a discharge opening, o-ne end wall of said receptacleadapted to form a dividing wing, and a discharge chute receiving grainfrom said receptacle.

3. A grain grader and cleaner including v pose of adjusting the frontwall towards and from the rear wall `to` vary the size of the curtain ofgrain discharged 4from the curtain forming hopper, and means receivingthe grain after passing the air blast.

4. A Grain rader and'oleaner com risinOl a supporting structure, ahopper carried by said structure, a trough carried. by said structure,means for reciprocating the trough, a screen carried by' the trough, adischarge chute Jfor the screen, a scalping sieve carried by the trough,said trough having an opening to permit the grain passing through thescalping sieve to discharge from the trough, an air blast means carriedby the structure, a curtain forming hopper re- 10 ceiving grain Jfromsaid opening and delivering the grain in advance of the air blast Intestimony whereof I aiiix my signature 15 Y in presence of twoWitnesses.

` ALBERT E. FROMMEL. Witnesses:

CHAs. E. ADAMS, J. J. WARENTIN.

